Summary: As an entrepreneur, building a company and turning a profit isn’t easy. Most businesses go through highs and lows and many don’t survive the tough times. To make it through and turn your business around, you need to create a culture of awesomeness. That’s where Craig Handley, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hired-Quit-Inspired-Stay-Exceptional-ebook/dp/B07H8PK6KJ/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hired to Quit, Inspired to Stay</a>, comes in.<br> Craig is the CEO of ListenTrust, a multi-million dollar call center with a culture that honors personal values, giving back and allowing everyone at the company to pursue their own dreams. In this episode, he teaches you how you can do the same at your company.<br> He draws upon the trials he’s faced to help you create your own ideal business. By the end of this episode, you’ll know what it takes to build a culture that inspires your employees and your customers and how to survive and enjoy the bumpy business ride along the way.<br> <br> <br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hired-Quit-Inspired-Stay-Exceptional-ebook/dp/B07H8PK6KJ/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>Get Craig’s new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hired-Quit-Inspired-Stay-Exceptional-ebook/dp/B07H8PK6KJ/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hired to Quit, Inspired to Stay</a> on Amazon.<br> <br> Craig Handley: I always wanted to be a music maker when I was in high school, I wanted to go to college for music, and I actually applied to Julliard and Berklee College of Music. I ended up getting into both, which was great.<br> But you know, even in 1991, Julliard was like $49,000 a year and Berklee was $29,000 a year. I couldn’t afford either. I grew up in middle class probably, but we didn’t have extra money for me to go to college. So I went in the US Army and joined the infantry because they promised me college money.<br> They did. They delivered $570 a month, which paid for my apartment so I can go to college at a local school. I studied music for a few years, but I didn’t want to be a school teacher. It was really emphasis on half note versus a dotted quarter. I’m like, I don’t care, they’re both about the same, it’s like a fraction of a second, who cares?<br> I was in school and I was doing what a side hustle work to make sure I could do everything I wanted to do. Side hustle work—meaning I was a disc jockey in a club, I did weddings, I even tried to DJ at comedy night on Sundays in order to fill my time.<br> I did a night on at a hotel, where it took me two hours to balance the books and I could sleep and they’d ring the bell if they wanted to check in or check out.<br> I umpired baseball and soccer because they paid like $100 a game for one hour. I was like, well this is better money than I’m going to make anywhere. It’s $100 an hour.<br> <br> I was all about the side hustle.<br> <br> Then I was going to school working out and taking classes, and I just didn’t want to be a music teacher. I didn’t know why I was taking math and English and why am I taking social studies to be a music major?<br> Somebody said I was really good at sales and I could talk, so maybe I should try it. I ended up joining an insurance company that went door to door. I sold insurance door to door for two and a half years, and I was one of the top guys in the country.<br> But at two and a half years, I was only making like $85,000 a year, and then they only paid residual for five years, this particular company.<br> I realized that I had been working 70, 80 hours a week and I had reached the peak of what I was probably going to earn with that company. I didn’t want to work the rest of my life for $80,000 a year.<br> I then shifted and tried to figure out what else I could do with the sales talent, and I ended up in a call center. It’s funny, I was making $80,000 a week in a call center too, but people were calling me.<br> It was much easier.<br> <br>
